Quality and equity

Japanese schools belong to one of the most highlighted education systems in Asia. However researchers policy officials and the wider public in Japan and abroad ... » 

Japanese schools belong to one of the most highlighted education systems in Asia. However researchers policy officials and the wider public in Japan and abroad often hold different views about Japanese education. Some praise it for its high enrollment figures high levels of student performance and for being egalitarian. Others criticize the approach to learning for its emphasis on a onesided instilment of knowledge its rigidity its low levels of student performance and inequality of educational opportunity. Many of both advocates and detractors however assume that schools in Japan perform equally well teachers teach equally well and that students are treated similarly across schools in particular at the compulsory education level. This study examines how well Japanese schools perform whether all Japanese schools perform equally well and if not what makel Japanese schools perform differently. The results show that many assumptions and observations of advocates and detractors are exaggerated and misleading. «